Dr. Niloufer Hamsayeh

Honestly, anyone with tetracycline staining, deep hard staining, or anyone with defects in their enamel wouldn’t be candidate for this, but they can use other processes. 

With the Sensational Smiles system, the way the material is activated doesn’t dry out the teeth or open the tubules on the teeth so we can use it on super sensitive people.

I’ve seen them work on some patients, but it takes a long while for them to work so the patients have to keep using them which gets pretty expensive. It does work on patients with bigger or longer teeth. They are inconvenient, but if it works for you, and you don’t mind spending money, it’s an option.   

I used to use Sapphire for whitening, but have switched over to a 20 minute process called Sensational Smiles—a 20 minute in-office whitening process that’s really inexpensive (it’s under $200). The patient has their teeth cleaned, applies a little vitamin E to their lips, puts on protective goggles and gets a snooba (a tray designed after a snorkel) that is impregnated with whitening material. It uses a light to activate the product that does not emit UV rays, so it does not over-dry the teeth which is healthier. The light is very localized.  A Timer goes off and they rinse and go.  The patient then gets a brush-style applicator to use for 10 days at home to brush on their teeth at night. They stick the tray in their mouth for 20 minutes, to make sure it stays on their teeth, and then they spit it out and go to bed.  Patients must stay away from dark liquids for a week or so. It’s amazing and can be used on supersensitive patients because there is no soft tissue damage because there is no UV light. The process gets teeth 5 to 16 shades lighter, depending on your teeth. The nice part about this process is that you can come in for a cleaning, stay for 20 minutes afterwards and leave with really white teeth because there is no waiting for custom trays; and you can keep it up every 6 months.

Crowns are used when you have a large area of the tooth that’s compromised in structure (more than half the tooth). They help provide circumferential support of the tooth, and are used as a protective coating for brittleness and cracking in the teeth after root canals.

They are a nice way to fix chipped teeth non-invasively; however, bonding can’t fix teeth with vertical fractures in them.  Bonding is a less permanent way to fix the teeth, you usually only get 3 to 5 years with them, but it’s a quick fix with one dental visit. Veneers are now thin and can last from 5 to 20 years, so they are a more of a permanent solution and provide a more protective structure for teeth because it covers the whole tooth so the nerves are protected.  Bonding does stain where veneers don’t.